Red House by Ice - Good idea, decent execution, nice little side story. I liked the sector light scenery too. 7/10
Personally, I wish I saw new textures or other little references(maybe I didn't look hard enpugh), but your map is fine how it is.

Pipe Towers - It was alright, I thank you for using a mario theme in a real singleplayer map. I felt the spacing in the level was just a bit too tight. Overall it was a decent level 6/10

Aquatic Temple - Very hard difficulty, it's not that it's impossible, it's just that when you're playing another person's level you kinda need to make it more obvious about what the player is supposed to do, I couldn't figure out what to do in time before drowning.
4/10

Midnight Pass Zone - Well done sunny sonic level with a nice "gotta escape" part. It was nice overall but I couldn't really pass that water rising too easily, I missed a jump and I was nearly dead. Not much I can really critique, it plays how it was intended to.
7/10

This is the exact opposite of what I expect from SRB2's level design contest.

Completely different Atmosphere, attention to detail, creativity in just the concepts alone(Really cool looking text in the air, floating water that makes everything black and white when you look inside it? COOOOL). Plus a bunch of Custom sprites, textures, music, and other stuff that does not just look and act like a redesign of the same basic Sonic checker patterns, simple enemies, or dancing flowers.

This thing is full of hilarious jokes, and there was a lot more put into this than just getting cheap laughs - the entire thing was full of creativity and personality.

I wasn't playing another repetitive SRB2 level, I was playing YOUR level.

It was totally immersive - I never even knew cutscenes could be done that well

You made a new kind of level experience, no....level FORMAT, for this game that I never even thought was possible.

Kalaron, I appreciate that you popped out of the void to say that, but the vote won't count unless you also vote on the rest of the division. Besides, don't you want everyone else to improve, too? :P

__________________
Science tells us that nothing can be proven, only rendered more likely to be true. If we do not question what we already know, how can we know, much less admit, when we're wrong? Such things are vital to progress.

Starting out, this is quite good, and I do mean good, in my standards :P.
Okay let's start.
The area theme is quite fitting, however, still everyone in-contests always
miss colormaps, what's with them? Liquids are better with the colormap that represents them

Overall this map is good, just a few fixes like the colormaps, and I don't find this part quite.. natural. You should fix it in my opinion ;)

Galactic Waterworks Zone by Spherallic (7/10)

Long zone name right? XD
Anyway
This map is quite decent, and this map is at first I already know is quite a good one, why?
There's a fitting colormap for the liquids here. XD Alright seriously though, the liquids here
became more realistic with the fitting colormap. Anyway you should make the red floors or blue floors, err both, uh, the .. AH SEE SCREENSHOT ! That kinda floor will look better if they glow and fade and so on. I honestly think it will be way better that way. :)

Molten Canyon Zone by akb778 (6/10)

Starting out in front of Lava, cool.
You should make the starting point face the other way it is currently in my opinion.
You shouldn't put a pointless area like the spring that leads to a deadend with 4 rings and scatter in the middle. It's not really not necessary. And the other one that leads to another deadend with 4 rings and auto in them middle, it's really... not needed. But this map is overally good.

Lethal Filibuster Zone by Fawfulfan (6/10)

The only map that made me crack up at when I start.
Although the map is too small honestly for CTF in my opinion. Not to mention it's dull, only one side vs. one side at the other end with no challenge to reach the other side. You should be more CREATIVE in the zone making. It's good as is whatsoever. :P Colormap OK in this map ;)

Red House Zone by Ice - 5/10 - a mish-mash of average
And the dead end with the restrooms (with the toilets sitting out in public, for some odd reason) was silly.

It's not actually a dead end, although it sure may appear as one if you didn't find a certain path. Could be easily solved by putting some items there so the room has a purpose from both sides.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedEnchilada

Pipe Towers Zone by Fawfulfan - 7/10 - stomping goombas and shit
Redo the underground part; it's nowhere near as good as the rest of the map, and the sudden theme change after most of the map went indoors with the regular theme is just weird. It really mars an otherwise good map.

Not trying to shoot you down here, but out of curiosity, in which way was it worse than the rest of the map?

Molten Canyon by akb778 - 1/10 - red team has a monopoly, gg
The overall map was boring and empty, but there's only one reason for that 1. Part of the blue team's base is actually assigned the red team base sector type, likely due to bad copy-paste. This makes it possible for a single person on the red team to score five caps within thirty seconds of opening the map, and there's basically nothing the blue team can do about it. It's basically unplayable due to this, but I'm giving a point regardless.

I seriously thought I fixed that. But, looking back at the map in Doom Builder...

Ah, having played many of the early versions of this wad via IRC, I want to say that it turned out perfect. There are great cutscenes that really made me laugh at the jokes used, with nice camera panning to who's talking (making it feel more alive), I've yet to see anything like it in my days of SRB2 playing. The transitioning is flawless, and the detail is amazing (specifically the giant Gameboy). There's shitloads of exploration and collecting; some that is required, and a lot that isn't but are rewarding to get anyways. I think it was a great idea to slow Sonic's speed down and nerf his thok to a homing attack, it really encourages the chance for exploration rather than rushing. The homing attack was pulled off great for the final boss, I haven't seen anybody or even SEGA use it in such a manner (though, some of the HA trails got a bit monotonous and repetitive, don't do this too much in Volume 2 if you make one). I'd definitely look forward to more OLDC's if the submissions were much more fleshed out and brand new like this.

Lastly, the little secrets were great as well, such as BOSSHOG and the "pause for 20 seconds" tune.
Pipe Towers Zone by Fawfulfan - 8/10

It's a great Mario level for once, out of all the shitty ones I've seen too much. It's got tons of exploration, and many paths. Though, I feel some of the alternate paths were rushed and tacked on rather than built in mind from the start. Texture usage is great and so was the level design. It didn't feel too cramped, nor too open. Platforming didn't seem like constant jumping over pits on tiny floors, it was actually fun. I think you were very limited though, like you just couldn't reach your full potential since Mario mode is just so limited in tiles and features (*cough*whichiswhytheteamshouldconsidermycustommar iotextures*cough*). But even then, you used the tiles to the best they could be used with actual grass rather than an infinite hallway of the tiny brick texture to assassinate our eyes. The way you set up the visuals was stunning in my opinion for a Mario level, as someone FINALLY created a good looking pipes for once, and the whole thing feels really natural with the jutting bricks from the terrain and such (though the underground part felt very sudden). It would've been nice to see the floating brick blocks crumble when hit instead and new enemies instead of just goombas, (and maybe the falling platforms making a tiny rusty squeak sound instead of the crumbling platform one) but I understand you didn't have the time for those kinds of things since you somehow entered all divisions before the deadline.

I would really like to see another Mario level by you someday!

Aquatic Temple by Kuba11 - 4/10The scenery is really great, but the size is unnecessary, and the gargoyle puzzle is just outright rage inducing. There seemed to not be enough bubbles in the right places either, forcing me to continuously run back and forth every second.

Rage Quit.
Midnight Pass Zone, Act 2 by KO.T.E - 8/10
Perfect presentation with superb level geometry, scenery, and tile art. The whole thing felt very fresh and natural, though many areas felt unnecessary, and the water rose to quick at the very end which made me feel a bit pressured. But that's obviously the point of the room, and it kept me on my toes alright. Though, one thing I thought was that the color map was too dark to play in.
Red House Zone by Ice - 7/10

The level is huge, in the good way. It offers MANY alternate paths, and feels very consistent. The transition to the Red House was unexpected, but breath-taking. The scenery in the house fits perfectly with no lag at all, and the polyobject turning bookshelves were very cool touches that I haven't seen used before. The badniks were also placed very well; normally I hate jetty-spam, but they were used sparingly to keep it fun. I see the whole thing as an improved Green Flower Zone, except the random desert at the end. Whoever calls this a 'house wad' is very ignorant.

Moderator Notice:

Sorry dude, but you finished your votes 3 minutes after the deadline. Better luck next time!

You've got to be shitting me. Just 3 minutes? Not all clocks are perfect, especially since the forum clock doesn't update while typing.

Mario mode is just so limited in tiles and features which is why the teams should consider my custom mario textures.

Just thought I'd make that a little more obvious for you, Iceman. I'm fully in agreement. As I can see it, I see no reason not to consider them. It's not like the devs are going to have to make them themselves, you already made them. If something nice is offered for free, why refuse it? Isn't it just shooting yourself in the foot?

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A dome structure? something that could be filled with diatomaceous earth?

As I can see it, I see no reason not to consider them. It's not like the devs are going to have to make them themselves, you already made them. If something nice is offered for free, why refuse it? Isn't it just shooting yourself in the foot?

I don't want to repeat this whole discussion here, but there are four possible reasons:

The devs don't want custom textures for Mario mode and would rather keep the sprite rips because they're faithful to the original.

The devs don't care about Mario mode and would rather spend their time on more important features. And yes, implementing these textures does take time.

Connected to that, everyone would rather continue his own work instead of messing with someone else's. And it might prove necessary to work on these textures in some way.

People who ask for their work to be included in the game always leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.

So it doesn't involve using the second jump provided with the air shields?
That's probably what was throwing me off then.

EDIT: Well I can't bounce off the barrels, and I don't see any enemies. They might not be appearing at all, since this boss fight seems to be horribly glitched on my computer in particular. (I haven't seen anyone else complaining about problems here, so it must be just my machine.)

See, when I get to the boss...
A) There are no enemies that I can see. Just Donkey Kracken, his tnt barrels, and blue barrels containing Derpy, who gives you an air shield. If there's supposed to be anything else, it's not showing up for me.

B) After I fight for a little bit, some notice comes up at the top that some illegal sprite has been removed or something. This causes the boss to dissappear, leaving me stranded in an empty room.

C) Often, the game simply crashes entirely while I'm trying to fight. I've actually edited the start point with DoomBuilder so that I can give more attempts without having to replay the whole level.

The boss hardly seems to be in any condition I can actually play. The rest of the level works fine though.
I may need to just rate without beating the boss.

EDIT AGAIN: Prime 2.0 (below this post) mentions fire flowers. I DEFINITELY don't see any fire flowers. So something is wrong with mine.

So it doesn't involve using the second jump provided with the air shields?
That's probably what was throwing me off then.

You can use a fireflower with the whirlwind shield to attack, though. :P

__________________
Science tells us that nothing can be proven, only rendered more likely to be true. If we do not question what we already know, how can we know, much less admit, when we're wrong? Such things are vital to progress.

Seeing as Dumbventure's attracted a lot of attention, I thought I'd post some of my thoughts, seeing as I'll probably not get around to actually voting until later. I have to say that I underestimated the level despite Prime hyping it up, due to the title.

I enjoyed the use of the homing attack in minor cases and as alternative paths. I liked the way you could use it as a break in order to prevent overshooting an area, and how it made platforming a little more challenging. It did throw me off, trying to get a sense of what was accessible and what wasn't.

This especially hurt me in Thunder Fortress. While the use of the Egg Guard as an obstacle was clever, it only made a difficult approach more difficult. In most other places, it wasn't that big of a deal. Valkyrie Cliff was my favorite part of the pack, but I did enjoy areas from other pieces too, and got a huge kick out of the Donkey Kong Land level.

The textures fit very well, I admired the theme and the decorations. They didn't feel superfluous or excessive as visual decorations often seems in recent levels. With the exception of the casino level, where the background made it unclear to me that there were actually moving platforms to jump on.

Most of the enemies were fine, with the exception of the turret from leaf forest, which drove me nuts, and the bouncing turret from the boss. Seeing the chaos emerald over a barrel in the casino level, I did actually try to bounce off the barrel a'la Mario to reach it. After I got hurt a few times, it became obvious that it was a hazard from every angle. My only other critique would be that the visuals ranged from more detailed than SRB2 to ugly pixellated sprites. This visual dissonance detracts from the otherwise excellent presentation of the pack, and proves to be distracting in the boss (not interested in debating whether or not that's a bad thing again).

While I liked the boss the visual noise wound up throwing me off and I didn't get the hang of it until after my first attempt and even then had trouble keeping track. The boss attacks at a fast rate, and leaves you little opportunity to pick up your rings which is a welcome challenge. I never did catch on to the white or red flashes, only the blue. Maybe adding a sound with the pre-attack animations would help to warn the player the way other player-made bosses do.

Other issues, in the casino I couldn't tell that the moving platforms were part of the path and not the background do to the fact that everything was equally bright. Additionally, the wall-jump is too gimmicky and risky to place over a pit. I would rather see spikes, or maybe a crumbling platform so that the player doesn't necessarily have to die to learn how to approach the area.

Sure its not perfect, but the presentation is great. I don't want to score it until I've spent more time with it. Maybe a 9 or a 10, we'll see.

__________________
"A man who's a dreamer and never takes leave, who thinks of a world that is just make believe
Will never know passion, will never know pain, who sits by the window will one day see rain..."

See, when I get to the boss...
A) There are no enemies that I can see. Just Donkey Kracken, his tnt barrels, and blue barrels containing Derpy, who gives you an air shield. If there's supposed to be anything else, it's not showing up for me.

The blue barrel drops enemies too. Or SHOULD, but I dunno why they wouldn't spawn for you...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlazeFan1

B) After I fight for a little bit, some notice comes up at the top that some illegal sprite has been removed or something. This causes the boss to dissappear, leaving me stranded in an empty room.

Hrm, never had that error before...

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlazeFan1

Often, the game simply crashes entirely while I'm trying to fight. I've actually edited the start point with DoomBuilder so that I can give more attempts without having to replay the whole level.

After seeing D00D64's level get so many good comments. (Best level ever, awesome, etc) I had to try it out. I originally thought it was going to be bad, maybe due to D00D's previous levels? Well, I was wrong. The level was a lot of fun and it dusted off SRB2 for me. The platforming was great, the graphics were nice, the homing attack stuff was a good idea, etc. It would be great to see more levels in the same style as this.

My only complaint is that once I lost my whirlwind shield, it got a tough for me. This was most notable near the end as I kept dying by trying to spin onto the next ledge and home in on those spheres.

...Wait, did I even finish the level? I just saw the world get blown up? No boss for me. O_o

Red House Zone by Ice: 4/10
A very great creative mash up of levels. Although mostly just platforming. The part with Red is creative. And the library part was grand. But, it just had platforming, and not really any interesting gimmicks. And in my opinion, you should try and use custom textures and custom scenery. Maybe some socced enemies, just to give the level something different to look at. As of the fact of the usage of GFZ textures.

Pipe Towers Zone by Fawfulfan: 7/10

A great, very well themed Mario Map, one of the best in my opinion.

Aquatic Temple by Kuba11: 4/10

The level had great detail and scenery, but the gargoyle puzzle was kind of confusing.

Midnight Pass Zone, Act 2 by KO.T.E: 6/10

A great level with great custom scenery and textures. Also, a great secret. And the water rising part was great and exciting.

Donkey Kracken's Disasterous Quest by D00D64: 10/10

A great entry to the OLDC that does something different. It has great gimmicks and makes great use of the homing attack. It was also very humorous.